March 28, 2005

IF YOU’RE NEAR A BEACH ON THE INDIAN OCEAN, you may want to move away for a while in light of this news:

8.2 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra Monday close to where a similar quake triggered a tsunami that left nearly 300,000 people dead or missing, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

A USGS spokeswoman told Reuters the quake struck 125 miles west northwest off Sibolga, Sumatra or 880 miles northwest of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, close to where the 9.0 magnitude quake struck in December.

A spokesman for the U.S. Geological Survey told CNN that the earthquake could cause tsunamis.